


three

by vlaplomb



Category: Glass Animals (Band), Purple Hyacinth - Ephemerys & Sophism (Webcomic)
Genre: Angst, Character Study, Did I mention angst, I kill another character every week basically, I'm Sorry, Kieran "my ex killed my only friend" White, Kieran has no one to hug him now, MAJOR OOF, can this count as ekphrastic?, inspired by a song, ish, someone dies again, thanks liv, that tag was a spoiler but who cares, you don't want to see the comments in the Google doc
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-06
Updated: 2020-08-06
Packaged: 2021-03-06 02:01:23
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,545
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25755529
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vlaplomb/pseuds/vlaplomb
Summary: Three seconds.  Three perspectives.  Three words left unsaid.
Relationships: Kym Ladell & Lauren Sinclair, Lauren Sinclair & Kieran White, Lauren Sinclair/Kieran White, William Hawkes & Lauren Sinclair, William Hawkes/Kym Ladell
Comments: 15
Kudos: 66





	three

**Author's Note:**

> This fic is inspired by a song that the Glass Animals put out a week ago called "It's All So Incredibly Loud" from their upcoming album. In case you want to check it out, I've included a link [here](https://youtu.be/GDtAW7Bio_Y) . NOT mood music lol.
> 
> I've put off posting this but finally decided to do so because their new album comes out today/tomorrow (depending on your time zone)
> 
> BIG THANKS to Liv for beta reading :))

"Where on Earth is Lauren?" Will asked no one in particular. Kym swept in, slamming a palm on the edge of his desk and earning a scowl. With a wary gaze in her general direction, he continued. "She's awfully late. This is unusual for her."

"Wherever she is, we need to cover for her if Hermann comes in here, _Willame_. So what'll it be this time?"

"No," he said emphatically, glancing towards Lukas. No sympathy there.

"She was abducted by bloodthirsty butterflies! She astral-projected into seventh Hell!" Unbeknownst to them, Kieran had stopped in his tracks at Lila's desk, hand still outstretched from placing a file there. He watched them in silence.

"If you're going to be this stupid, at least make it believable."

"I've got it." Kym snapped her fingers, sloshing her coffee mug in her other hand. "She was _killed_ by the Purple Hyacinth!"

Kieran clenched his jaw, taking a step towards the door as he watched the two banter with a cautious eye. They couldn't be further from the truth. 

The phone sitting on Lila's desk rang abruptly, ceasing Kym and Will's argument and Kieran's internal monologue. As the rest of the office continued its usual Monday morning bustle, Lila picked up the phone.

"Hello, Ardhalis Police Department office, how can I help you?" Lila sang into the receiver, twisting the phone cord around her finger. "Oh...Chief Sinclair?"

Kym nodded knowingly toward Will as Kieran paused again at the threshold of the room in interest.

The phone fell from Lila's hand, clattering to the floor, silencing the aimless chatter instantaneously. Lukas jumped up from his seat, stalking over to pick up the fallen phone. "What is it?" he asked, lifting the phone to his ear. His eyes widened.

"I'm _dying_ to know, too! Do tell us, Lukas," Kym yelled, waving her arm in an attempt to break his stupor. He couldn't even muster up the energy to properly glare at her.

Lukas inhaled sharply. "Viper venom," he muttered. 

Kieran's head turned, his twin pools of blue swimming in recognition.

"I don't know how to say it." He gripped the phone, turning to glance at the white-knuckled secretary frozen behind him. "Officer Sinclair...Sinclair won't be returning to the office."

Silence followed at his statement's heel, coating the room in a disturbed requiem. The words fell flat in the frozen scene, meeting blank, expressionless faces.

"Chief Sinclair...found her...dead, _poisoned_...this morning." 

1… 

The proclamation hit Will like the wave of a biting tsunami. His every feature numbed with the deadweight of a brick, nailing him into his seat as his childhood flashed before his eyes in grainy black and white film. A cacophony of moments crashed into him at once. Young peals of laughter as they played in his mother's garden, before the Phantom Scythe had made their first appearance, before she had lost everything - everything except him. Her carefree giggle as she accepted her certification and badge at the academy's commencement ceremony after years of training and sweat and blood. The determined smirk she donned, disguising a chuckle, as the two of them worked in graceful tandem to make yet another successful arrest.

When was the last time she had laughed? Will wished he had been paying attention, locked it away knowing it would be her last.

He grasped at the remaining strains of laughter, refusing to believe they were slipping away. With each fleeting memory, he turned up with empty decibels.

Static roared in his ears, cutting out the nonexistent sound around him. The rest of the world fell into lapse, screeching to a halt around the exact snapshot taken before the phone call's intrusion. Will shut his eyes.

Two confident golden ones stared back at him in defiance.

And it all came crashing down.

In a silent room, Will wanted earplugs. He half expected to turn around and see Lauren at her desk, working away, or for her to waltz through the door, knocking Kieran flat to the ground. Breaking his trance, he whipped around to glance at her desk. She wasn't there. Heat engulfed his eyes and he fought off the urge to blink.

She never would be.

Something moved in his peripheral and his surroundings spiraled back into view. Will swiveled in the other direction, half expecting to see Lauren. Rather than a dead woman walking, his eyes fell on harried hands entangled in a downcast head of navy hair.

Everything else that had reappeared in the room fell away once more. He pushed away from his desk and bolted towards her.

2…

The foolish grin remained plastered across Kym's face, rapidly losing all of its meaning until only the scaffolding remained. Tawny eyes widened, tearing her lashes from their mirthful gathering as the laughter left her like a ghost from a corpse.

She could hear them separate as if they were yelling into her ear. Her eardrum magnified the sound of every move she made, and her hands crept upwards as if to try and turn them off like a radio. Splintered glass tumbled inside her, crashing with the volume of a symphony.

The piercing feeling in her chest confirmed that it was her heart.

No one uttered a word. Kym could only imagine how loud a spoken word would sound. She knew she would never hear correctly again.

She would never do anything correctly again.

Working against the current of her emotional whirlwind, her muscles failed to erase the now morbid smile on Kym's face. The corner of her mouth twitched in discomfort, betraying her. Salt teased the tip of her tongue mockingly as she realized that her eyes were overflowing and spilling.

When the tang of her tongue being stabbed mercilessly by her teeth clashed against the salt in her tears, it hit her. Golden viper venom.

Somewhere in her brain, a file of memories fell into another, scattering unbidden, ghastly images and tainting, tainting, tainting. Lauren appeared at the door. Blood flowed from her eyes and the corners of her mouth in a sobbing mirage. Snapping her eyes shut, Kym found herself in the doorway of the archive room, this time staring down at a crimson-haired corpse, golden irises setting like suns into a flush red sky. She raked her hands through her blue locks, wishing she could close her eyes to the image - but her eyes were already closed. There was no escape-

Broad arms closed around her. She jumped, opening her eyes and stepping out of the memory, but the feeling stayed. Will's breath echoed around her ear, a welcome addition to the white noise grating on her nerves. She lacked the energy to return the embrace, staring straight ahead. Sometime during her timeless thumbing through memories, her smile had faded into a thin line, the haze of a grimace. Her lips closed around her tears.

_Crash._

Kym jumped again, feeling Will's arms tighten around her. The fallout of the abrupt sound cut the deafening silence in the room with the precision of a freshly sharpened katana. Her empty gaze darted to the vacant doorway.

3…

He might as well have been pierced with the poison himself for the effect those words had on him. Kieran froze in the doorway, midstep, suspended in the weight of eternity. Unmoving.

The blood-ridden palm which he constantly gripped in his own fell away, giving into time itself.

He noted the absence of chatter which he expected to erupt at that announcement, the unsteady silence behind him. Ringing filled his ears. Through the excruciating noise, he could hear her faintly.

_"Kieran."_

And then she was gone.

And then it hit him. His coworker, his partner in crime, his only friend had vanished. He hadn't been there to help her. The sudden self-hatred struck him in the back of the head, wracking a sharp throb through his skull.

The solitary person who believed he was human was gone.

The soundlessness around him grew to a roar in a sweeping crescendo, nearly knocking him backwards and off of his feet. Though he couldn't feel his limbs, let alone move them, each assault of emotion threatened to throw him off balance. He would trade anything to exchange the noise blanketing him for a laughing _"subordinate"._ His fingers grasped to reach the last time he had heard the nickname. All he wanted was one final reprise.

But all he was met with was deafening silence, ebbing her out of the picture.

Kieran could feel her cool hand cup his cheek as if she were standing in the hallway in front of him. Swimming with hope, her eyes speared his heart all over again, tangibly real in his mind. He leaned into her hand, ready to hear what she had to say.

A flash of pink caught his eye over her shoulder.

Belladonna.

His mouth opened in a silent scream, his voice betraying him. She crept closer, blade raised and glistening with venom above her head. Unsure of what else to do, Kieran threw his arms around Lauren, catching thin air.

He was falling forward, forward into her honey eyes, knees locked as he plummeted for the ground. Her eyes remained stationary, the only solid certainty. Black crept into his vision, three unspoken words formed on his lips- 

**Author's Note:**

> I fell down the stairs and hit my head on my keyboard and this was the result
> 
> Sorry for the s a d. If it makes you feel better, just picture Lauren strolling through the door and steamrolling Kieran 😌
> 
> Additionally, the first sentence of Will's perspective was originally "hit Will like a Razor scooter to the ankle" but it killed the vibe so I removed it-
> 
> SORRY THIS EXISTS. I needed to practice some prose since mine s u c k s. More fluff and funny stuff coming soon ;))


End file.
